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Introduction to Linux - A Hands on Guide

This guide was created as an overview of the Linux Operating System, geared toward new users as an exploration tour and getting started guide, with exercises at the end of each chapter.
For more advanced trainees it can be a desktop reference, and a collection of the base knowledge needed to proceed with system and network administration. This book contains many real life examples derived from the author's experience as a Linux system and network administrator, trainer and consultant. They hope these examples will help you to get a better understanding of the Linux system and that you feel encouraged to try out things on your own.

Hi guys,
I want to make triboot system with windows(which includes Windows XP and Windows server2003) linux and OpenBSD 6.0 .Presently I have 80 GB SATA Harddisk onwhich are installed Windows XP on 55 Gb ,window server on 5 GB , Linux on 15 GB and about 5 GB free space on which I want to install OpenBSD.Currently I have GRUB boot loader so what should I do to make it a triboot system.

Last time I made a multi-boot w/ a BSD, it was FreeBSD & we put on a 2nd HD. We let it have the MBR of the 2nd HD & added a std. GRUB chainloader stanza (pointed at (hd1), no partition specified).

The main trick, which you probably already know, when adding to a GRUB controlled multi-boot system, is to make sure that the new addition does not trash the MBR (back up, back up, back up). I have no idea how easy or difficult this is w/ OpenBSD.

Be sure to read up on BSD partitioning & "slices" -- it is very different, very very different. AFAIK, BSD's cannot use the Linux swap partition.

Hi guys,
I want to make triboot system with windows(which includes Windows XP and Windows server2003) linux and OpenBSD 6.0 .Presently I have 80 GB SATA Harddisk onwhich are installed Windows XP on 55 Gb ,window server on 5 GB , Linux on 15 GB and about 5 GB free space on which I want to install OpenBSD.Currently I have GRUB boot loader so what should I do to make it a triboot system.

5G is a plenty of space for a nice OpenBSD desktop machine. If you have grub and all these systems, you already know everything you need to know except *BSD disklabel. Read the OpenBSD FAQ about disklabel because you will need to understand this part to install OpenBSD (and it is supposed to go in a primary partition). Use Linux fdisk to set up the partition type A6 and start the OpenBSD installer. (Print out the partition table from Linux fdisk using sectors because this is how OpenBSD looks at it and it will be easier to match up the locations of partitions.)

Exit from the OpenBSD fdisk installer step and it will bring you into the OpenBSD disklabel step. Set up desired values for partitions a (root) and b (swap) and when you save the values it will build a filesystem (hopefully where you wanted it!).

Setup a grub entry just like any other chainloaded OS (winbloze, for example) and you can boot your OpenBSD system.

Multi boot & Multi OS:
Actually there is no limit (within reason) to the number if Linux/Windows/OS you can boot into.

I have detailed the procedure in a 2 page PDF file and included 2 free small programs (MBRWIZ & BOOTPART). Bootpart will allow booting into any OS and is the key. All systems will be blisfully unaware of each other.

Don't know about OpenBSD, but it's on the list of OSes that are supported. Nothing but really EASY menu selection to configure, no editing. It can be tested from a floppy disk until you feel really comfy with it, then installed on your hard disk, but it ONLY installs on the MBR.

FreeBSD has a set of rescue menu options built-in, as does Windows, but Linux does not unless you pass options to the kernel. For this reason, I also install GRUB for each Linux partition, but NOT on the MBR. Instead, GRUB goes on the first sector of the /boot partition, (which may just be your / partition). Seems redundant to use GAG and GRUB, but one is for boot selection, and the other for kernel control.

Well, if he meant FBSD then there definitely is an option _not_ to install bootloader. Meaning MBR will not be overwritten, existing GRUB installation will survive and can be used to boot FBSD. Probably this is possible with OpenBSD too, I just have no experience with it.

For FreeBSD I installed its bootloader into /boot of the BSD-slice and told GRUB to "chainload +1". This is the FreBSD recommended way to do it, since they seem to change the booloader-interface (?) quite frequently.

Well, if he meant FBSD then there definitely is an option _not_ to install bootloader. Meaning MBR will not be overwritten, existing GRUB installation will survive and can be used to boot FBSD. Probably this is possible with OpenBSD too, I just have no experience with it.

Yes, OpenBSD also has the option of installing its own boot loader or no boot loader.

I have XP, Linux (Slack, debian and SuSE) and FreeBSD installed. The boot loader is LILO. It is simple and it works.

I set aside a small partition with a 2nd slackware installation that has the lilo.conf file. If something blows out the MBR, I boot off a floppy to the small slack partition and re-run lilo.

-JJ

GAG is okay. All of the BSD bootloaders are complete jokes. The only loads customizable enough would be GRUB or LILO, though I recommend LILO because it informs you of errors before you boot in to it (you are required to run the LILO executable before it accepts the text file edits).